Once Upon A Time

Once Upon A Time

So very many things make me think of Laura...

May 7, 2004
I do not know where this shall take me tonight. I write with quick key strokes, like on a horse flying fast. Is it in this one moment of illumination or the other that I shall find the moment of inspiration?
But inspiration I need. The movie of the Japanese countryside, with the warriors in action, haunts me still. Tom Cruise, as the American warrior learning from the samurai a code of honor, did well. The movie speaks to me as I think of Laura and her warrior spirit. I assured her that in her passing, she was a warrior still and would always be our warrior. She needed to hear that, with the last bits of consciousness remaining to her. She needed to hear that.
I watch that movie and I think of courage. I think of when the American tells the young Japanese boy, after the little one confesses that he would be scared to die in battle, how he confesses, that although grown, he, too, is always scared.
But there is courage, and the warrior is impelled forward on the strength of something he believes in, something he values so strongly that he will continue, despite fear.
I have seen too much of the dishonored warrior. This morning, the TV was long with speeches of those who went awry in questioning the Iraqi prisoners and humiliating them. On and on the speeches went. How many times can one say they are sorry for the actions of a few, but remember the actions of the many, who did behave honorably? Glad I was when my co-worker wearied of it, and wanted to turn the radio on.
There is nothing we civilians can do about this, except remember the soldiers who DID do right. And this is not where I wanted my meander to go.
But a meander takes us where it will. I have said of 'The Last Samurai', how it made me think of Laura. And so, too, did another movie we watched this week. 'Big Fish' was about a man who told tales, tall tales to entertain, and the son who was trying to understand his father. Understanding comes at the end and there was a clue that there was at least some truth in the man's tales.
Laura, too, was a storyteller. Hers, though almost fantastic, were all true, however. That, I suppose, is where the similarity ends. Many of her tales remain in her book. For instance, we can now read her tale of Gor, and imagine how she told it, with wide sweeping hand gestures.

All good storytellers
know how
to trick time,
and give it a spin.
That's how we win,
finding all that 'stored time'.
Pushed into rhyme,
prodded into prose,
anyway it goes,
it's left to live again
in the mind, remind,
rewind,
hit 'play'...
"Once upon a time..."

Once upon a time, there was a brilliant storyteller with a warrior's spirit, and her name was Laura. So very many things make me think of her. I was indeed privileged to know and love Laura Darlene Lansberry.